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NBA Power Rankings: Dominant Celtics take No. 1 spot; Knicks suddenly red-hot; Lakers hit latest rock bottom


 


How incredible is this? With just a month left in the NBA's regular season, pretty much only one thing is certain -- the Phoenix Suns are going to win the Western Conference. Other than that, everything is up in the air from the top of the East to the play-in races to the end-of-season awards. Whether it's true or not, this certainly seems like one of the more unpredictable finishes to a season we've had in a long time.


Adding to the intrigue, the Boston Celtics are running through the league like a mustachioed 17-year-old playing in a 10-and-under Pop Warner football league, winning 17 of their last 20 games to become a popular dark-horse NBA title pick. Their incredible stretch, led by Jayson Tatum's tremendous individual effort, has earned them the top spot in this week's NBA Power Rankings.


They're not the biggest riser, however, as the New York Knicks -- yes, those New York Knicks -- are suddenly one of the hottest teams in the league, putting up point totals reminiscent of the bygone Bing Bong Era. As a result, they jumped nine spots this week to No. 17.


The biggest fallers this week were the Utah Jazz, who got waxed by over 30 points at the hands of the New Orleans Pelicans to end their winning streak. And then there's the Los Angeles Lakers, who dropped two more spots this week after being blown away in overtime by the bottom-dwelling Houston Rockets -- the latest in a stretch of difficult losses for the struggling franchise.


With just a few more weeks left until the playoffs, the only thing we know for certain is that we certainly know nothing. Here are this week's NBA Power Rankings.


*Please keep in mind that our Power Rankings are based on the team's performance the previous week, not the entire season.










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